Coffee and Kisses
by RavenclawDoctorSilveo
Summary: Nobody cares about Audrey Watson. But when she walks into her office every morning, there is a cup of hot coffee waiting for her. Who would care enough to make her coffee every day? Certainly not Percy Weasley, the argumentative redhead who works in the office next to Audrey. Written for the Word Count Challenge on HPFC.


The common sentiment among the people who used to be friends with Audrey Watson was that Audrey was not a particularly nice person. She kept to herself, and she was often found giving the cold shoulder—even to her friends. Her last friend had finally told her to 'get the hell away' from her, simply because she didn't ever give hugs. Audrey knew she was pushing everyone away from her, but she didn't see the need for people who only pretended to be friendly anymore. So it surprised her more than anybody when, three months ago, she'd walked into Percy Weasley's office bearing two cups of hot coffee.

She'd gotten a headache not five minutes after she'd walked into her own office. Percy and George Weasley were shouting at each other in Percy's office, which happened to be right next to Audrey's. She could hear every word through the flimsy barrier. She knew most of the Weasley sibling squabbles by now, and even some between Percy and Cormac McLaggen, with whom Percy shared an office.

"George, it's not my fault!" Percy had yelled at his brother as Audrey had passed by his door.

"Yes, it is your fault!" George had shouted back. "Mum's going crazy; she thinks you don't care about your family anymore—she never sees you!"

Audrey had put her head in her hands and attempted to shut out the noise and concentrate on her stack of paperwork.

Half an hour later, when George had left the level to go find his and Percy's brother Ron, Audrey had gone out of her office and down to the Muggle coffee machine the Aurors had demanded they install up on Level 2. She'd brought back two cups of coffee, both with almond creamer, which she knew was Percy's personal favorite (Harry Potter and Bill Weasley had stopped by and loudly discussed the virtues of various creamers with Percy, who'd insisted that almond was the best), as well as her own.

She'd stuck her head into Percy's office, which had an ink-puddle in the floor and several papers strewn about it. McLaggen was nowhere in sight, which Audrey found particularly relieving. McLaggen greatly annoyed her.

"I know you've been having a lot of visitors lately," she'd said boldly, never being one for shy introductions. "But I think you might welcome this one." She'd held out the cup of coffee. He'd glanced up at her, then at the coffee, and waved a hand to signal that it was okay to come in.

That had been the beginning of their friendship, and Audrey thanked her lucky stars every day when she walked into her office to find a steaming mug of almond coffee that she'd found a friend in Percy Weasley. She argued with him all the time (a mark of friendship in her book)—even more than he argued with his siblings, because they could argue through the "wall" separating their offices. McLaggen had, on more than one occasion, begged the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation to move his office and let Audrey and Percy have their own office, because they talked to each other nonstop. They talked about Quidditch (Percy's favorite team was the Falmouth Falcons; Audrey's was the Wimbourne Wasps), coffee (and their mutual love of almond creamer), and how boring it was to be made to watch older siblings' children (Audrey's two-year-old niece was one reason she spent most of her time at work).

The beginning of their love was not much different.

It was Audrey's birthday, and she was already getting a headache from Ron Weasley's loud voice coming through the "wall." Her older sister hadn't even bothered to wish her a happy birthday yet, and Audrey did not have high hopes for the day.

After Ron had left, Percy came into Audrey's office and stood in the doorway, smiling at her.

"Hey, Audrey," he said. She looked up.

"Yeah?"

"Catch." He tossed something to her. It fell on the floor just on front of her. "You were never on any Quidditch teams, were you?" he asked her, smirking slightly at her utter failure at catching the object.

"Neither were you, judging by your throwing ability," she pointed out, and he laughed.

"Open it." He looked pleased with himself, but also nervous. Curiously, she unwrapped the lump in her hand. She gasped when she saw what it was.

"Why did you give me a signed Wasps Quaffle?" she asked. He did something else nice for her, and she couldn't figure out why.

He looked at her seriously. "Because I care about you."

She blinked. "Really? You care that much?"

He shifted awkwardly. "Um, yeah."

"Okay."

"Er, do I get a friendly kiss as a thank-you?" He muttered.

She shook her head.

"Oh." His cheeks colored. "You—you don't want to kiss me?"

She flushed. "I—yeah. I mean, I do want to. Please?"

"Have a happy birthday."

And she did.


End file.
